Weekend Watch: Ted Lasso Season 3, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods

Football fun and superhero silliness

Image Credit: Apple TV+

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Ted Lasso kicks off what could be his final season and Shazam returns with a sequel. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite

Having seen the evolution of the show between its first and second seasons, I was certainly intrigued and eager to check out the third run of Ted Lasso, even as I’m acutely aware that this could be its last. While nothing has been officially said, the creative team keep talking that way, and from the evidence of the initial episodes, the show is pointing towards a finale.

Picking up a short time after the end of Season 2, the premiere finds AFC Richmond riding high on getting into the Premier League but brought low by every pundit predicting that it’ll be a brief stay. To rub salt into any wounds, there’s the knowledge that former assistant coach Nate (Nick Mohammed) is now working for archrival Rupert Mannion’s (Anthony Head) West Ham, who are widely favoured to make the top five of the league ranking by season’s end.

Other characters are going places too –– Keeley’s (Juno Temple) PR company is up and running, though she’s not enjoying the experience as much as she hoped. And her gruff, sweary former beau Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), while happy that he’s back at Richmond as a coach, is still processing his emotions (which mostly involves invective).

On the evidence of the initial four episodes, Ted Lasso remains one of the most charming, mirthful and slyly intelligent shows on television, with characters you’re happy to just hang out with and a cast at the top of their game.

It boasts such a deep bench too –– while the likes of Jason Sudeikis’ Ted and Rebecca Waddingham’s Rebecca naturally get the lion’s share of storylines, there is space for everyone, from various team members to Ted’s loyal, enigmatic assistant coach Beard (Brendan Hunt).

The writers I’ve had a chance to interview from the show have talked about Sudeikis’ and co.’s vision for this to be modelled after the Star Wars trilogy. We’ll have to wait and see if Ted Lasso can stick the landing –– and whether any Ewoks will be involved. Yub nub?

The first episode of Ted Lasso Season 3 is on Apple TV+ now. New episodes will arrive weekly. I’ve seen the first four.

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

The first Shazam! was a delightful surprise back in 2019 –– a mash-up of Big and Superman, the comic book adaptation felt fresh at a time when the DC Extended Universe had started to feel (Wonder Woman excepted) like a big slog of murky movies and scowling heroes.

Directed by David F. Sandberg, who cut his teeth in the horror genre, it blended the fun, likeable likes of Zachary Levi’s lead performance with some darker-hued moments from villain Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) and his monstrous associates.

Add in the lively performances of Levi’s young co-stars (particularly Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddie) and it was one of the better DC offerings, even if it sometimes felt off in its own universe.

With the sequel comes all sorts of added pressure from within and without. The new film must, of course, be bigger and explore more of the original’s themes (in this case Shazam’s human alter ego, Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel is worried about ageing out of the foster system and therefore the home he shares with his adoptive brothers and sisters). There are new threats (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler show up as goddess sisters annoyed that their father Atlas’ powers are now part of Shazam’s and have a vengeful plan to disrupt the mortal world), and of course plenty of references to the wider DC Comics world (there’s a neat fake-out over an iconic character that plays out later in the film, one which I won’t spoil).

And without the film itself, there’s the concern of shifting executive authority, as incoming DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran have been on something of a universe shift, which means there may no longer be a place for Shazam (though the character’s tone surely fits more in with James Gunn’s than it did with Zack Snyder’s).

The good news is that most of the things that worked about the first movie still work here. All the chemistry between the team (especially Levi and Grazer) is present and correct and while their characters don’t have too much to do besides make speeches, wave their hands around while magic things happen and be wrong ‘uns, Mirren and Liu class up the joint, while Zegler brings magnetism to the role of more conflicted sister Anthea.

True, there are still cliches aplenty, and tonal shifts between light and dark are somewhat awkward, but Fury Of The Gods stands as a worthy follow-up, leaving me with the hope there’s still room for Shazam in the DC universe in the future.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is in UK and US cinemas now.